11 full grown discus without any pairing activity for years ???
As title already implies , I just wondered why and how is it possible for 11 grown discus not to display any pairing nor breeding activity for almost full 3 years now ?
I have a batch of 9 Stendkers that are in my tank since March 2017 and this march 2019 I added 3 more full grown discus from my LFS .
Not that I have space and tankage for breeding but I just wonder out of curiosity i guess , how is it possible not to have a single pair with 11 discus in a tank ? What are the odds for them to be all males /females ?
Can overstocking or high PH of 8.3 that my tank have , be part of the reasons for this phenomenon ?
Any idea or speculation is appreciated .
Re: 11 full grown discus without any pairing activity for years ???
Speculation on my part.You have 12, I would guess, fairly large fish in a tank of X gal. Lots of activity, territorial issues, ect.
Maybe too much distraction?
Can you sort out what you think would be a male and female and put them in there own tank?
As I said , just a guess.
Jay
Re: 11 full grown discus without any pairing activity for years ???
Quote:
Originally Posted by
brady
Speculation on my part.You have 12, I would guess, fairly large fish in a tank of X gal. Lots of activity, territorial issues, ect.
Maybe too much distraction?
Can you sort out what you think would be a male and female and put them in there own tank?
As I said , just a guess.
Jay
Yes Jay , I have 11 fairly large about 6 inch discus an a 65 gallon tank and I thought so too , that overstocking might be one of the reasons for them not to pair or breed .
I do not have any additional space in my apartment for any other tanks unfortunately , so I can't really separate some to experiment with . Im also not sure which ones might be males / females according just from their appearance.
Thanks for your ideas anyway .
Re: 11 full grown discus without any pairing activity for years ???
That's too many adults in a 65 for 11 adult fish. If you want to have them pair up you won't see it in that tank. If they were to be divided into 2 100 gallon tanks you will see some action.
Re: 11 full grown discus without any pairing activity for years ???
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Filip
As title already implies , I just wondered why and how is it possible for 11 grown discus not to display any pairing nor breeding activity for almost full 3 years now ?
I have a batch of 9 Stendkers that are in my tank since March 2017 and this march 2019 I added 3 more full grown discus from my LFS .
Not that I have space and tankage for breeding but I just wonder out of curiosity i guess , how is it possible not to have a single pair with 11 discus in a tank ? What are the odds for them to be all males /females ?
Can overstocking or high PH of 8.3 that my tank have , be part of the reasons for this phenomenon ?
Any idea or speculation is appreciated .
Your fish to gallon ratio is 1 fish to 5 gallons if my math is correct. I can get pairs to spawn with 1 fish to 5 gallons. I don't hold much hope for the pair to have success beyond the egg laying and hatching but it does indicate to me who could be moved to a private tank. IFor you what this might leave as a possibility is either water chemistry or diet. Put a cone into the tank placed to one side and near the back corner. If you cannot set up a 20 gallon can you partition off 1/3 of the tank? Then put 2 suspects there. The only clue I use to sex the fish is the dorsal fin. Sometimes the male will have a pointed fin at the tail end and sometimes the female will be rounded. Cone, separation area, cone, different food might work for you.
Re: 11 full grown discus without any pairing activity for years ???
When fish are hard to distinguish I always find behavior a good indicator .The relationship between a male and female are often easy to note to even an untrained but attentive eye ?
I question the 8.3 but hold little value in pH as a general indicator ..Do you know your TDS ? That says a lot more to me then pH and GH..
I think you are tight also in a 65g and that could certainly stop a pair from being noticed easily ? I have a very young pair ,under 1 year in a 65 and they have spawned 4-6 times already ??
Re: 11 full grown discus without any pairing activity for years ???
Hey, Fillip. It might be an overcrowding issue. I want to say that my fish spawned in 8.2 water back when I was on well water. Now my ph sits at 6.94 to 7.12 and I've also had them spawn in this ph range. My fish went quite for a while and now, after feeding live worms, they've started to pair up again.
Re: 11 full grown discus without any pairing activity for years ???
Quote:
Originally Posted by
LizStreithorst
That's too many adults in a 65 for 11 adult fish. If you want to have them pair up you won't see it in that tank. If they were to be divided into 2 100 gallon tanks you will see some action.
Thanks Liz . I was suspecting that overcrowding might interfere pairing but wanted to confirm that ideas with more experienced breeders here .
Quote:
Originally Posted by
peewee1
Your fish to gallon ratio is 1 fish to 5 gallons if my math is correct. I can get pairs to spawn with 1 fish to 5 gallons. I don't hold much hope for the pair to have success beyond the egg laying and hatching but it does indicate to me who could be moved to a private tank. IFor you what this might leave as a possibility is either water chemistry or diet. Put a cone into the tank placed to one side and near the back corner. If you cannot set up a 20 gallon can you partition off 1/3 of the tank? Then put 2 suspects there. The only clue I use to sex the fish is the dorsal fin. Sometimes the male will have a pointed fin at the tail end and sometimes the female will be rounded. Cone, separation area, cone, different food might work for you.
You are correct Peewee , its about 5 gallons per discus ATM . I could definitely try your idea about separation of one size of the tank with a breeding cone in it .
Thanks for your pointers of choosing males/females too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
coralbandit
When fish are hard to distinguish I always find behavior a good indicator .The relationship between a male and female are often easy to note to even an untrained but attentive eye ?
I question the 8.3 but hold little value in pH as a general indicator ..Do you know your TDS ? That says a lot more to me then pH and GH..
I think you are tight also in a 65g and that could certainly stop a pair from being noticed easily ? I have a very young pair ,under 1 year in a 65 and they have spawned 4-6 times already ??
Thanks for your input Coralbandit .
The problem is I still haven't even noticed any pairing behavour yet , and that's what made me curious to write this thread at the first place .
My water is generaly perfect for Malawi Chiclids as opposed discus .It has TDS of 330 , Ph 8.3 , KH and GH well above 16 .That should be a problem too , when it comes to breeding I guess ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mando
Hey, Fillip. It might be an overcrowding issue. I want to say that my fish spawned in 8.2 water back when I was on well water. Now my ph sits at 6.94 to 7.12 and I've also had them spawn in this ph range. My fish went quite for a while and now, after feeding live worms, they've started to pair up again.
It might be overcrowding Armando . I wanted to confirm that too , starting this thread .
I feed tetra discus and grated Salmon , BH and shimps as a staple diet and I feed frozen Artemia from time to time too .
I'm still scared away from live foods and have second thought on trying the frozen white mosquito larvae which my LFS recently added to his offer.
Re: 11 full grown discus without any pairing activity for years ???
I was at Jack Wattley's place and in one of his 120g tanks with over 20-25 discus, there was a pair off to the corner who spawned. A lot of variables at play. Has your temp always been stable? try a drop in temp like 82ish or an increase. Just throwing ideas out there. They may not spawn in overcrowded tanks but you should be able to see some having their sexy moments. :devil:
Re: 11 full grown discus without any pairing activity for years ???
If you have access to live blackworm I would not hesitate to feed those, I would not feed Live or frozen tubifex, or some freeze dried blackworm, and mysis shrimp is a very good food ,and remember there's always room for one more tank.
Re: 11 full grown discus without any pairing activity for years ???
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mando
I was at Jack Wattley's place and in one of his 120g tanks with over 20-25 discus, there was a pair off to the corner who spawned. A lot of variables at play. Has your temp always been stable? try a drop in temp like 82ish or an increase. Just throwing ideas out there. They may not spawn in overcrowded tanks but you should be able to see some having their sexy moments. :devil:
I've tried dropping the temp by 4 Celsius degree (about 8-10 Fahrenheit I guess ) during my Wcs many times but still nothing happened . The next teaser I was planning to add for them was a Waterchange with added peat moss in the aging barrel ....And probably some Berry White too ,along with the shaded atmosphere from the yellowish peat moss water :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sturiosoma
If you have access to live blackworm I would not hesitate to feed those, I would not feed Live or frozen tubifex, or some freeze dried blackworm, and mysis shrimp is a very good food ,and remember there's always room for one more tank.
Unfortunately I do not have a place near me that sells Blackworms Jeanne .Tubifex are all around but I won't put that with my discus fish.
And about the room for another tank issue I'm pretty convinced that I'll have to choose between that tank and my marriage ;) , but thanks for the encouragement anyways .
